I had this thought while driving to practice and literally sat and repeated it so I wouldnt forget it until I got to the school so I could use my phone
In the Eridian Shifter and Eridian Pebble Shifter AUs, Grace doesn't get the shifting ability until post-Adrian fishing incident, a couple weeks into breeding the Taumoeba. i combined book and movie canon so that Rocky didn't take the implied (movie) weeks to wake up, but it wasn't a couple days (book, also I dont remember the exact number sorry). More like 2 weeks? Ish? Then they're awake and then a couple days after that is when Grace starts not feeling well, and then boom wakes up as an Eridian
But imagine if in the pebble au, Grace gets the shifting ability during the period when Rocky's still unconscious, once he stops panicking, he's gonna be glued to Rocky's side. Like he'd get up to go work with the Taumoeba and everything but otherwise he's tucked himself between Rocky's carapace and one of their limp limbs.
Rocky yells at him afterwords for not staying in human form (after they crash out when they wake to find a sleeping pebble pressed against himself) to let his body heal.
hi who wants more angst for the eridian shifter au
similar to my post about what if grace developed the ability to shift before rocky wakes up post-fishing incident in the pebble shifter au, please imagine more angsty versions of the eridian shifter au.
rocky busts out to activate the centrifuge, starts to try to drag grace to the med bay/dorm, but collapses. grace's body, already in agony, writhes and then as rocky is struggling to stay awake, they hear an eridian forcing its way out of grace's EVA suit. the eridian is staggering and smeared with both human and eridian blood (the result of blood all over the eva suit and probably the floor too, from both of them). grace's world is spinning literally and figuratively; he doesnt know what the fuck is going on, his whole body hurts, and he definitely is not shaped the way he should be, but he can hear rocky DYING on the ground
and so grace, with only seconds of being in this new body, reaches out and drags the larger eridian down the hall to the nearest airlock - in the lab, because with the movie hail mary layout I think most of rocky's tunnels and airlocks are in that chunk of the ship, and the bulb in the cockpit is separate, since extending the tunnel through the dont go crazy room and into the cockpit could have resulted in rocky accidentally fucking with some really important things - and grace is wailing the whole time. rocky's lowkey fighting to stay awake and is super fucking weak, but they're quiet, limp, bleeding, BURNING
and so grace manages to drag rocky into the airlock, doesnt even hesitate, just through sheer force of will he forces his unfamiliar body to obey so he can smack the controls and get rocky into their atmosphere without even knowing if the ammonia would kill him too
and then they both collapse, slumped against each other
eventually grace wakes up, and rocky briefly slept but the cycle was pretty short, and grace just does his best to carefully drag rocky back to the dormitory, all while rocky focuses on breathing and the feeling of claws on his carapace for the first time in so long
finally grace gets rocky comfortable and slumps over, exhausted, and rocky asks, "grace?"
and grace whistles back quietly in confirmation
and rocky says, "grace watch rocky sleep?"
and grace manages to say, "always"
and then rocky passes the fuck out
and grace is left with his friend who's gonna remain unconscious for like 2 weeks. he eventually goes human again once he leaves the tunnel and almost IMMEDIATELY is in pain because his human form only slightly healed and that plus the pain from shifting for the first time? holy fuck ow and Armando forcibly sedates him again so he can be treated, cause theres still burns on his human form (you can pry the scar from rocky's claws from my cold dead hands) and smoke inhalation and ammonia burns and like ten concussions and internal and external bleeding from being slammed into the control panels under at LEAST 6Gs, plus the damage from when debris from the hail mary briefly knocked him out on the hull
and then grace has two weeks to work with the taumoeba and then sit next to rocky and try to figure out how to sing, how to properly work his body when he's not losing his mind with the eridian equivalent of adrenaline
when rocky wakes up, grace is not asleep but he's sitting quietly so that their carapaces are pressed together, and grace is focusing on the screen reader where he's got it pointed at a laptop set outside the tunnel with some research paper set to autoscroll so he can read it
imagine rocky thinking that his hazy memories from when they were last briefly awake wasn't real, like when they imagined the voices of his crewmates on the blip-a, until grace shoves the screen reader aside to cling to rocky, crying his name over and over again until rocky realizes that this actually is grace
and rocky still aches but now he's finally touching another eridian and not only that but this is GRACE and they just sing together
anyway
this isn't canon, more like an alternate timeline that's way more angstier.
by popular demand, i present: eridian shifter au where everything's the same except grace's eridian form is physically as old as he is, aka instead of being an eridian that's just about rocky's age, grace is a pebble. nothing else changes. he's just physically a pebble.
this will be a multi chapter fic. idk how many yet. but more than one lmao. rocky is trying his best. grace is on a mission to do science as a 6" pebble.
This masterpost will be updated (hopefully) frequently (aka when I remember to do so) and exists so you have an easier time locating posts and content about my Project Hail Mary Eridian Shifter AU!
Ao3/Fic links:
Eridian Shifter AU Series
To Live My Life As It's Meant To Be (oneshot, complete)
You May Call Me Grace (oneshot, complete)
Erid's Saving Grace (oneshot, complete)
To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow - (multi-chapter, ongoing)
FAQs below! (Beware: I talk a LOT)
FAQ:
What is this AU about? - The Eridian Shifter AU is a Project Hail Mary AU created by thederpypikachu98. Grace develops the ability to shift between his human form and an Eridian form at will a couple of weeks after the Adrian Fishing Incident. Canon diverges from that point.
Is this AU based on the movie or book? - both! I actually prefer the movie, but I read the book several times after it initially came out. Aspects of the book canon are present, but things lean more towards movie canon, like Grace's scar, the Hail Mary ship design, Grace's slutty glasses, and how Eridians look.
Why can Grace change into an Eridian? - in the AU's canon? they can't figure it out. if you're asking me, the author? ...because why not? it's For The Plot
What does Eridian Grace look like? - this post here includes a description of both Eridian Grace and Pebble Grace. His appearance is also described in the first fic in the series, and includes Grace's own thoughts on his Eridian form. (tl;dr: he thinks he looks similar to Earth and that he's pretty!)
Is this AU a Grocky AU? - Nope! Grace is aroace and I pull a lot from my own personal experiences for him. Rocky and Adrian are mates, and Grace is their third in a queerplatonic way. I see Grace and Rocky as soulmates - not romantic, not platonic, but that third thing, the QPR thing! If you read them as romantic, great, but know that it is not canon to the AU and I do not write them as romantic.
How does Grace's age work? - This will take some explaining. I roughly have human Grace as being in his mid 30s ish during the events of the book/movie. The quick version is that whichever form Grace is in is the one that will determine how both forms age in that moment. For example: If Grace is in his human form, his human form will age normally. Even though he is not in Eridian form, his Eridian form will age proportionally to the time he's spending in human form, so it will age much faster than an Eridian normally would. If he is in Eridian form, his Eridian form will age like it should, and his human form will drastically slow in its aging. So if he were to spend an Earth century in Eridian form and changed back to his human form, his human form would have only aged about an earth decade (ish). But if he spends say 20 Earth years in human form, his Eridian form will have aged by around 200 Earth years. If that doesn't make sense, I apologize, I'll make a better post about it soon and link it here! I MADE THE BETTER POST
Can Grace's human form survive in Erid's atmosphere/pressure, since his Eridian form can survive in both atmospheres? - Nope! Grace's human form remains mostly the same, save for a few things. He does develop an eidetic memory in both forms, and has perfect pitch when singing or humming, but he cannot survive Erid's atmosphere. If Grace were to step onto the surface of Erid in human form without protection, he would die painfully. Why? Because I tried to make it work and I struggled too much with it.
So Grace won't starve/will have an easier time on Erid? - Grace will not starve on the way to Erid! Rocky brings all the rations that he can and once Grace runs out of human meals, he only eats in Eridian form. He also won't have to wait to go down to Erid's surface when they get to Erid (as seen in the Adrian POV fic).
What about the biodome? - sadly, the foggy beach dome does not exist in this AU. Since Grace can just be an Eridian, he actually ends up preferring to be Eridian there, since it's easier for everyone to understand him and for him to be with Rocky and Adrian. They do build a small dome, so they can study and use human technology, and so Grace can occasionally go human for them to study or so they can learn how to use some technology.
Does Earth find out about Grace being able to turn into an Eridian? - NOPE! (Not yet!) Even though Grace starts being able to shift prior to him sending off the Beatles, and even though Mary has plenty of footage of him shifting or existing as an Eridian, he does not tell Earth. I imagine that the data on the Beatles has to be manually uploaded. So Grace got to select what files, logs, and footage got sent back. During the time Rocky was recovering post-fishing trip, he prepped a lot of stuff for the Beatles. After that, things picked up, and then he didn't update them with the latest Taumoeba and mission info until he decided to go back for Rocky. At that point, he was so focused on just sending everything that he only threw in a couple of logs where he's human and then launched them. So Earth has no idea that Dr. Ryland Grace can also turn into an Eridian!
Will they visit Earth? - Yup! Grace, Rocky, and a crew of Eridians design a new ship and venture off to go visit Earth. This is the plot of the main fic!
Does Grace have any disabilities, mental illnesses, etc? - Yes!!! In my AU, Grace is autistic and has ADHD (like me!). He also has PTSD and depression (understandably).
Does Rocky have any disabilities, mental illnesses, etc? - Yes!!! Rocky is also autistic (or like the Eridian equivalent). They also have PTSD, anxiety, and depression. One of his legs is also damaged/split, and does not have any fingers/claws, just like in the movie.
How do pronouns work in this AU? - It's complicated? I know Andy Weir has said something about pronouns being hierarchical, but eh. I'm taking that and twisting it. Imagine that whenever a fic is in an Eridian's POV (or Grace once he gets used to Erid), they are using hierarchical pronouns based on status/honor/respect/etc, but when translated to English and other human languages, they are all essentially translated as they/them. Sort of. It's less that there are hierarchical pronouns and more that there are tones and chords and inflections in an individual's name. In English, Rocky likes he/they pronouns, Grace starts off with he/him, and Adrian uses they/them. Later, Grace will have some gender thoughts (or lack of gender) and will feel more comfortable with they/them even in human languages! Until that fic has been posted, I am referring to Grace mostly with he/him, but know that yeah, Grace will prefer they/them in the future.
How big are the Eridians? - check out this post for the most up to date height chart. It also includes Pebble Grace!
What happens to Grace's clothes when he shifts? - check out this post for my current explanation. tl;dr it has not been decided yet. sometimes it disappears with his human form and sometimes it shreds/falls off. at some point it will be decided which option is canon and all fics will be edited accordingly
You've mentioned other AUs/spinoffs, are you planning on posting those? What are they? - I have posted the first chapter of the Eridian Pebble Shifter AU, in which everything is the same except Grace's Eridian form matches his chronological age, meaning he's a pebble. (masterpost). (the following are split up but still are the same answer to this question. an attempt to make it easier to read)
There are also 2.5 time travel AUs of this AU that will be posted at some point, but both require the main fic to really get going. Yes, 2.5. 1 is where Grace and Rocky are in the Mary docked at the space elevator and they get thrown back in time so the Mary is orbiting Earth during the time when past!human!Grace is on Stratt's Vat doing science. Everyone is very shocked by this new version of Grace, who is Buff, Confident, best friends with an alien, and tears Stratt a new one the first time they see her (also apparently has done some thinking and is agender and does not care about human gender norms anymore).
The 2nd and .5 time travel spinoffs are basically the same spinoff just slightly different. Both Grace and Rocky's memories get thrown back in time to the same time period that the other time travel spinoff takes place in. In one version, Grace instinctually shifts into his Eridian form, which they're more comfortable in by that point, and bolts from the deck in front of hundreds of humans who lose their shit. they barricade themself in a room and have several panic attacks before eventually managing to get stratt to give them a lab, get them the materials to make xenonite, and to get everyone to chill out so they can be eridian and be more comfortable. the other version is where the same circumstances occur but grace doesn't shift in front of everyone and desperately tries to pretend to be their old self but everyone catches on very quickly that something is Very Not Right.
there's also a "watch the movie" au that i've started but i havent gotten far because of focusing on the main au and the other spinoff aus.
Theres a THIRD time travel au!!! Post where I talk about it is HERE. Grace wakes up on Erid prior to the Blip-A leaving, but no one else remembers!
How does Eridian time work? What is base-6? - I go over how time on Erid works and what base-6 (and other numerical systems like base-2 and base-10) work in this post here! (be warned. it is very long. i got very very excited)
How does Grace's scar/carving work? - this post has me talking in detail about how Grace carves Rocky's handprint into one of his limbs.
How does the food situation work for Grace on the way to Erid? Can he eat Eridian food in human form? - this post here has me talking a bit about that!
How does the education system work on Erid? How did Grace end up teaching? What do they teach? - this post here has me talking about my thoughts on Eridian education/learning/testing and then my ideas for why Grace is teaching and how they ended up teaching the groups they do.
Is there a character list? What do different characters look like? - see my character list in this post here! the list is incomplete and will be updated as I continue posting chapters of TPAG and onshots in the AU. Some characters listed (both Eridians and humans) have not yet appeared in TPAG, but descriptions are pretty vague and focus on their name(s), pronouns, some physical descriptions, job/positions/field of study, and minor story beats. I love suggestions and ideas for characters, so if you make a suggestion/offer an idea and I like it, I may utilize it WITH proper credit (ofc, im not a monster).
Fanart!!!!!
the amazing jessthephantom drew Grace, Rocky, and Adrian from You May Call Me Grace, including the scene where Grace runs into walls while trying to get the gifts he made for Adrian!!!
This FAQ will be updated if anyone else has good questions or commonly asked questions!!! You are allowed to ask questions!!!
yknow of all the questions ive gotten regarding the eridian shifter/eridian pebble shifter aus, theres one that no one has asked me that im surprised i havent gotten yet.
"what happens to grace's clothes when he shifts?"
the answer: whatever is most funny and or convenient in that moment. for example, in "you may call me grace" theres a hint that the clothes he'd been wearing before shifting to leave the hail mary are on the ground where they'd fallen. he trips over them! he also rips through his eva suit in the first fic when going onto the blip-a to find rocky!
but there are also times where the clothes just. disappear. fold into the pocket dimension his human body does.
this will eventually change and i will go back and edit whatever fics as necessary to reflect whichever option i go with. either grace shreds his clothes when shifting while wearing them and as a result strips before shifting (when he can), or his clothes stay on his human body and just pops into existence with his human form when he turns back.
no i have not decided which option ill be going with. both are absolutely hilarious options and have great potential. but thats the problem: both options have potential.
i dont have a name for it beyond "reverse shifter au"
but i did start writing another au of the eridian shifter au (are we surprised? absolutely not)
and yes. yes it is in fact the exact same as the main au except instead of grace being able to shift between a human and eridian form, it's rocky who can change forms. his eridian form can only survive in erid's environment, but his human form can do both.
yes. human rocky is just james ortiz. he is exactly 1 inch taller than grace. they have their carvings and the stone representing adrian.
grace will freak out but the overwhelming feeling of skin contact after so long overrides his "oh my god rocky is human" panic.
it's only 500 words and i wrote it at 4am while in a waiting room. it will get longer lol i've just forced myself to actually work on the main au. the outline is in my head because honestly that's a lot of work to write down right now.
yes it is specifically inspired by the rising "rocktiz" and "human rocky is just james ortiz" trends. when i eventually do post it i will tag the specific art and one specific fic that made me go "okay yes fine i'm gonna start writing an au where rocky can turn into a human"
Welcome to the masterpost for my Eridian Pebble Shifter AU, a spinoff AU of my main Eridian Shifter AU!
In this Pebble AU, everything is exactly the same as the main AU. The ONLY difference is that Grace's Eridian form matches his chronological age, so he's a pebble!
Ao3/Fic Links:
Eridian Pebble Shifter AU Series
Rocky the Pebblesitter (ongoing, incomplete)
FAQ below! (A lot of questions can be answered in the main AU's FAQ as well, so this will be for pebble au specific questions!):
So wait, is Grace a child in this AU? - NO. Grace is still a full grown adult human in this AU. He is still mentally an adult. He just has the Eridian form of a pebble! Grace retains all memories, skills, and mental capabilities of an adult in pebble form. Instead of his Eridian form roughly matching Rocky's age (late 200s early 300s (earth years)), he is a pebble in his mid 30s (earth years).
Is this AU age play? - NO. This is NOT age play. Grace may act childish, and Rocky may experience parental instincts, but neither of them are doing age play. There is an in world explanation for why Grace is acting a bit childish or child-like at the start of this AU, and it has to do with the biological differences between his bodies. Rocky's parental instincts are a mix of all Eridian's natural instinct to want to protect/help a lost/abandoned/stray pebble, but also because prior to their departure to Tau Ceti, he and Adrian had been talking about having a clutch. The combination of that conversation, natural instincts, and the fact that Rocky was already protective over Grace in human form combine to make him go a little wild over pebble Grace. They do not and will not develop a parent-child relationship.
What does Pebble Grace look like? - same post I linked in the other masterpost. Eridian Shifter Grace and Pebble Grace look identical except for size and carvings. Pebble Grace's carapace is in fact slightly smaller than the Earth beanbag.
How will his two bodies age? - essentially, this is sort of/kind of/not really the same answer as the question in the main au's FAQ. Pebble Grace will not age quickly to "catch up" to match his mental age (like to match Eridian Shifter Grace's size). It's really hard for me to write out, actually? His human form will not wither and die and leave him only with his Eridian form. Now that I'm thinking about it more, I sort of realized I have to even more handwave this. Anyway. Yes. This does mean that Rocky and Grace will not age the same. One of them will always outlive the other. (I don't actually think this answer makes sense so uh. pretend it does)
Is this au meant to be about reparenting? - I talk about this in this post here. The short answer is that it's not intended to be, but I don't mind if you read it to be! I also discuss some thoughts on Grace's backstory, but nothing solid beyond him being AuDHD and aroace.
Why does Grace act a bit wild as a pebble? Why does he experience things like meltdowns and tantrums? - I explain this in chapter 2 of the fic, but also a bit in this post here. The gist is that while he is an adult, his body is that of a pebble, and just like human children, pebbles tend to struggle with emotional regulation! So even if he knows that he's sad or upset, his body goes into overdrive.
Fanart!!!
THE wenber1234 drew pebble shifter grace!!! including several moments from chapter 1 of Rocky the Pebblesitter!!!
Feel free to ask me about this au! It wasn't originally planned to exist and then people latched onto the brief mention of it and boom it happened. I wasn't lying when I said you guys begging and asking and bothering me about stuff will make me write more!
